Cardinals activate Jon Jay from DL, but not in lineup

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals activated outfielder Jon Jay from the 15-day disabled list but did not have him in the lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The team also said Matt Adams' surgery for a torn right quadriceps went well Friday, but that it was more likely he'd be sidelined four months. Previously, the injury had been termed a strain and the prognosis had been 3-4 months.

Jay was sidelined May 11 with left wrist tendinitis. While he was out, Randal Grichuk and Peter Bourjos stepped up and both were in the lineup.

"A lot of it has to do with how Randal has been playing," manager Mike Matheny said. "We haven't seen that much of Jon the last few weeks. Going into a big series, kind of going with that hot hand right now."

Grichuk was 5 for 8 on the home stand and had six hits in his last 12 at-bats. Bourjos has excelled defensively and he made a game-deciding slide Wednesday against the Diamondbacks when he upended catcher Jordan Pacheco, leading to a throw that sailed into right field that allowed the winning run to score.

Grichuk was batting cleanup and playing left field in place of Matt Holliday, who is suffering from flu-like symptoms. Bourjos started in center field, Jay's position.

"There's a chance he'll be in the bowels of the stadium waiting for an opportunity," Matheny said of Holliday, who has reached base in a franchise-record 43 consecutive games to start the season.

The 30-year-old Jay had wrist surgery in the offseason and missed part of spring training rehabbing. He was batting .248 with six RBIs in 30 games before going on the DL and played three games for Class A Peoria in a rehab assignment, getting 10 at-bats with two starts in center and one at DH.

The injury has cut into his power profile. Jay had two doubles and 23 singles.

"I think most of it comes down to how are they doing right now," Matheny said. "We like what Randal's doing and we like when Peter's getting an opportunity, he's making a difference."
Mark Reynolds will be the primary first baseman for St. Louis and the team said it's not looking to trade for a more established player. The free-swinging Reynolds

has hit 20 or more homers the last seven seasons and entered the weekend series batting .253 with three homers and 13 RBIs.

"For now, the message I'm going to continue to give us we brought Mark Reynolds here for a reason, just in case we needed someone to step in," Matheny said. "Something happened. We're not going to make any bold statements except we want Mark to go out there and thrive."


(courierpress.com)